Looks like this will be a weekly thing

[forcegalactic]

[This whole week has been awful. This whole experience has been awful. Mordecai wants to go straight to his room and deal with his frustrations, but that's not what a mayor does. A mayor takes charge, a mayor fixes what's wrong, a mayor makes things better. Even if he can't do everything on his own, he's has to do something.

Two hours after the end of the trial, the living will find another note slipped underneath their doors.]

There's cookies in the kitchen. The dining room is ready for anyone who needs a quiet place to talk it out. I'll be in the bar if you need a drink, alcoholic or something more appropriate for the underage crowd.

-Mordecai Benmont Jiminy

[There's a pile of warm chocolate chip cookies in the kitchen. Two more candles are lit at the memorial - one for the victim, one for the culprit - and Mordecai has left a pile of blankets from the storage room on one of the dining room tables.]

Comments

[midnightsea]

[Dio walked over and took a seat nearby, calmly placing a note within Cabanela's reach.]

It's safer to communicate important information in a way that can't be overheard.

I think I understand why there's no windows in this damned place now.

[perpend]

[Cabanela, thankfully, thinks quickly. He knows exactly what Dio is doing, and he calmly pulls one of the pages out of his notebook without hesitation and begins to write.]

Those shadows are everywhere. They're probably watching our every move.

Light hurts them, so it would make sense to keep them away from all sources of it.

[They could even be doing it right now.]

[midnightsea]

It's probably useless to try, but it's still better than just discussing everything outright and making it easy for them.

Who or whatever the Conductor is, it's clear either he or something he's working with isn't human. Maybe it controls those shadows or it is those shadows, I'm not sure.

Whatever that something is, it's more similar to me than to any human. It needs somewhere away from light in general, and maybe its greatest weakness is sunlight.

I had a theory some weeks ago that this entire facility may well be underground; that's looking a bit more likely. Where else would be safer from such a thing?

[perpend]

That's looking to be increasingly likely.

So I suppose the riddle is this: how do we get rid of it without warming you? If we're deep underground, there must be a way to find out, beyond whether or not there aren't any windows.

It might be wise to start exploring this place thoroughly, for some hints as to our location.

[midnightsea]

There's no need for concern. If I was not skilled with avoiding the sun, I wouldn't have lived this long. It's almost regrettable that my brother isn't here--I think he had some ability to fight things like that.

Were we not doing that already? Last I knew Logan and Hibiki were talking about investigating what happens in the mail room at night, until the Conductor added that troublesome rule about not removing doors or whatever it is.

He must have some way to move around this place. I'd wager there's a whole other facility beyond that window and under that makeshift courtroom.

[perpend]

I'm not so sure family would be of much use here, anyway, with how things are going.

We need to find a way into that room of his in the courtroom, I believe.

[midnightsea]

I'd thought breaking the glass would be the most straightforward way, but after the debacle with Asuka I think it must be reinforced. With the strength I have right now, even I may not be able to do more than crack it at best.

[perpend]

I wonder if there's anything in here that could break it?

But with our luck, even if someone was successful, they might be executed on a spot, and a new rule would appear-- "no threatening the Conductor" or some such.

[midnightsea]

That's why whatever we do, it has to be decisive. Whenever we mobilize against, him, we have to be certain it will work.

[perpend]

Then we should start mobilizing this week.

I don't want us to start fighting this when it might be too late to act.

[midnightsea]

Of course. I might be formulating a few different ideas for what to do, in fact.

[perpend]

Are you?

That sounds useful. Would you care to share any of them?

[midnightsea]

Not really. At this point I don't think even talking like this is as secure as I'd like it to be.

[perpend]

I understand, of course.

If you find out something more secure, be sure to let me know.

[midnightsea]

Short of spontaneous telepathy, I don't think we'll be so fortunate.

I'll wait until I have results, then show them at the opportune moment.

[perpend]

I suppose that's reasonable enough.

We can never be too sure about things around here.